Tag: Cubs

HOF ’09: Mark Grace

“The most important thing about playing baseball is to have fun. I’m about to start my 13th year, but I can remember my rookie season like it was yesterday. It goes fast, folks.”

Mark Grace

As a Cub fan, I suppose I should be all over he idea of Mark Grace getting into the hallowed halls of Cooperstown.  I know other Wrigley faithful who support the idea.  But let’s take off our rose-tinted glasses for a moment and look at the player and man objectively before inducting him just yet.

Grace Facts
  • Drafted 24th round in 1985 by the Chicago Cubs
  • Played for ChiC, Ari (1988-2003)
  • 3 time All-Star, 4 Gold Gloves
  • 511 career doubles (39th all-time)

 

The one thing about Mark Grace is that you pretty much knew who you were going to get year in and year out.  Not including his last two years, he only batted below .298 once in his career (.273 in 1991).  Grace had a great eye at the plate with his walks surpassing his strikeouts every year and consistently ranking in the top ten in OBP. 

Not only was he consistent at the plate, he managed to show up at work every day.  In the 12 years from 1989-2000, Grace dipped below 500 at-bats only once (403 in 1993). 

0501008P BRAVES V CUBS For a firstbaseman, Grace wasn’t blessed with power.  He never reached 20 homers in a season.  Despite that, Cubs’ managers batted him in the coveted #3 spot in the lineup right after Ryne Sandberg.  With the Cubs, Grace only got as far as the first round of the playoffs with the Cubs in 1989 and 1998 but fate smiled on him in 2001 when he played for the Diamondbacks.  The Dbacks went all the way to the World Series.  With Grace’s help (3 rbis including a solo shot in Game 4), Arizona defeated the New York Yankees to become the World Champions that year. 

I suppose to say that Mark Grace was a steady ballplayer would be an insult.  But I don’t want to underestimate that either.  He was a solid career .303 hitter with a fine glove (four Gold Gloves) you plug in the lineup day in and day out. 

But that’s not enough for the Hall of Fame.  I don’t like throwing out stats to prove a point but I can’t ignore them either.  Grace was player who played a position associated with power and he just didn’t have much. He never hit 20 HR in a season nor did he drive in 100 rbis. 

sorry, Chicago fans… I loved him as a Cub but he won’t make it.    

  Hall of Fame

Hall of Very Good
  Why is he even on the Ballot?

 

While we wait for January 12 ballot results, The Baseball Zealot will be profiling those players who are on the 2009 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot.  Read the rest the of the profiles.

Sandberg movin’ on up

Looks like that the Cubs are playing musical chairs with their minor league staff.  Mostly precipitated by the promotion of Pat Listach from Cubs triple-A team in Iowa to a coaching position for the Washington Nationals big league club. 

Ryne Sandberg who has been at the helm for the Peoria Chiefs will move up a notch and manage the double-A team, the Tennessee Smokies.  This will be a bit of a change for Ryno as he will play under NL rules for half the season.  that will be a first for him. 

Meanwhile, former Smokies infield and bunting coach Bobby Dickerson will take over for Listach at Iowa. 

So who’s going to manage the Peoria Chiefs?  Marty Pevey, who comes to the Cubs from the Toronto Blue Jay organization.  He’s bounced up and down from minor league manager role to the Blue Jay coach (most recently in the first base coach role).  His big claim to fame so far is being awarded the Florida State League Manager of the Year when Dunedin went 84-54.  Currently, Pevey has a minor league manager record of 541-510. 

Carrie Muskat has the whole list of minor league staff moves at mlb.com.

HOF ’09: Andre Dawson

“No player in baseball history worked harder, suffered more or did it better than Andre Dawson. He’s the best I’ve ever seen.”

Hall of Fame secondbaseman Ryne Sandberg

 

Over the years, I’ve gone back and forth on the Andre Dawson question.  Lately though, I’m beginning to feel the Hawk belongs.  The votes have been close lately, receiving the most votes in 2008 to this point. 

Dawson Facts

  • Drafted by the Montreal Expos in the 11th round in 1975
  • Played for Mon, ChiC, Bos, Fla (1976-1996)
  • Seven time All-Star, Eight Golden Gloves
  • Hit for the cycle April 29, 1987
  • 438 HR, 1591 RBIs, 314 SB

 

After a brief cup of coffee for the Montreal Expos in 1976, Andre Dawson’s rookie season in 1977 pretty much summed up the kind of player he was.  A five tool athlete could hit (.282), hit for power (19 HR), run (19 SB) and field.  For his efforts, Dawson was awarded the Rookie of the Year award. 

Though his hitting dipped (.253), his sophomore year was no jinx (25 HR, 28 SB) and for that matter so were the next five or six years.  As a matter of fact, he hit over .300 three years straight.  In 1984, he did hit only .248 but managed to drive in 86 runs anyway.  Dawson’s big year with Montreal was in 1983.  That year, he hit the century mark in runs (104) and rbis (113) while cranking 32 homeruns and stealing 25 bases. 

andre_dawson_expos As part of the Expos famed outfield with Ellis Valentine  and Warren Cromartie, Dawson at least made baseball interesting to watch in Montreal. 

As a free agent, he signed with the Chicago Cubs for $700,000 in what everyone found out to be a collusion effort throughout baseball on the owners’ part.  The Cubs got their money’s worth at least from Dawson.  Despite the Cubs cellar-dwelling performance, Dawson hit 49 homeruns and 137 rbis.  He won the NL MVP award, the first player to win while playing for a last place team. 

By the 1990s, Dawson’s knees were getting the best of him and his speed had gone.  He was a smart baserunner and an instinctive in the field.  His bat still had some pop (27 HR in 1990, 31 HR in 1991) and he batted .310 in 1990. 

In 1993, he was signed by the Red Sox.  After two relatively productive years (13 and 16 HRs), he came back to the NL to play for Florida but he was pretty much finished by then squeezing out less than 300 at-bats in two years.

Pros:  If  you use the “dominate his era” argument for the Hall, you can make a good case for Dawson.  Not only is he a seven-time All-Star, he won 8 Golden Gloves.  Add to that his MVP (he came in second twice) and Rookie of the Year award, you have enough mantle metal to justify it. 

Dawson didn’t rely on one or two stats to contribute to his team.  He was a five tool player and maybe that will hurt him in the end in getting to the Hall.

Cons:  Dawson was a free swinger and thus his OBP was low throughout his career (.323).  His highest walk total for a season was 44.  His career totals don’t scream “Hall of Fame!”  He didn’t hit any of the automatic milestones (438 HR, 2774 hits… something by the way, I’m beginning to tire of).   Lastly, playing for Montreal and Chicago Cubs for the bulk of his career and therefore not getting a whole lot of postseason time (he got as far as the NLCS with Montreal in 1981, lost in the NLDS with the Cubs in 1989) won’t help. 

Maybe I’m being a Cubs homer here but I’m putting Dawson in. 

 

Hall of Fame
 

Hall of Very Good
  Why is he even on the Ballot?

 

While we wait for January 12 ballot results, The Baseball Zealot will be profiling those players who are on the 2009 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot.  Read the rest the of the profiles.

Skating at Wrigley

The Cubs with the help of the National Hockey League will host a “neighborhood skate” on January 4th, 2009.  This comes on the heels of the Blackhawks-Red Wings match on the temporay rink set up at the Friendly Confines which will be played New Year’s Day. 

Don’t bother looking for tix for the game… they’re already sold out.  It’s the first such hockey game at a baseball venue. 

As for the open skate, invites were sent to local residents and groups.  The $10 charge will go to Cubs charities.

Bleed Cubbie Blue has some photos of the construction going on for the events. 

HENRY BLANCO’S BROTHER MURDERED

In Venezuela, Carlos Blanco, the 39 year old brother of major league catcher, Henry was murdered by kidnappers after he was abducted Sunday in Guaranis, a Caracas suburb. Police believe the kidnappers were seeking ransom. Carlos’s bullet riddled body was discovered Monday.

Venezuela is a dangerous place. I was reminded of this statement made by a major league scout, whose assignment was going to be to go to Venezuela to sign some amateur ballplayers. He told his major league club, he’d need to bring with someone who spoke Spanish, he’d stay in a first class hotel, he wasn’t going off the beaten path, and it would cost about $5,000. The major league club decided to skip the trip, which was alright with this major league scout. That said, I feel bad about the senseless death of Carlos Blanco, my heart & condolences go out to Henry & the entire Blanco family.

Cubs reward Dempster with 4-year contract

Ryan Dempster, who more than anyone, helped the Chicago Cubs to a second straight NL Central championship, was rewarded today with a four-year, $52 million contract by the Cubs.

Terms of the agreement:  $4 million signing bonus; 2009- $8 million; 2010- $12.5 million; 2011- $13.5 million; 2012- option for $14 million

In the last week and a half, I’ve heard rumors bandied about of such a deal mostly in the context of “…in my opinion, Demp isn’t a 4-year, $50 mil kind of pitcher.” 

You didn’t hear that from me, though.  Like I said, Dempster was responsible more than any other pitcher on the Cubs for getting them as far they got.  I admit I was a little dubious when I heard he was being transformed from a starter during the last off-season.  But from the beginning, he took to it like Tony Oliva to Wii Baseball. 

For the year, he was 17-6 with a 2.96 ERA.  He initially had trouble winning on the road and ended up with a 3-3 record away from Wrigley despite a 3.13 ERA. 

Dempster says he has a desire to get the Cubs to the World Series and that played into his decision of staying with the team.  I’m sure the $52 mil didn’t hurt either. 

Money well spent in my opinion.  Now let’s see if there’s any money in the coffers for a leadoff hitter.

Braves drop out of Peavy race… that means the Cubs get him, right?

It seem that every team has backed out of the Jake Peavy hunt save the Braves and the Cubs. 

Now word comes out that Atlanta has gone as high as they can/will:

“We felt that we offered a strong package of players, and if we couldn’t get a deal done with the players offered we would move on to pursue other players,” the Braves general manager said Friday in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

That means we get ‘im, right?

Not so fast.

Apparently, the Cubs original offer doesn’t wow Pads GM Kevin Towers.  IF Peavy gets traded, the Cubs are still in the mix but right now, Ryan Dempster is probably a higher priority. 

Seeing that there’s no deadline set on any potential deal, this might be something that gets put on the backburner. 

According to Paul Sullivan from the Tribune, the Cubs are probably good for just one “big-ticket item” this off-season.   Ok, I’m not a GM but if I were Hendry, I’d sign Dempster for what he’s worth and spend that big-ticket money on a leadoff hitter.  Preferably one that hits from the left side.

Breaking up is hard to do

Speaking of Hendry and such, it sounds like Kerry Wood never really wanted to leave the Cubs after all.  At least, that’s the press’ take on what Wood had to say:

“It’s bittersweet. Obviously this is my first choice. I wanted to stay here and the best choice for me and my family. … But that’s part of baseball right now,” Wood said in a conference call Friday.

These just may be polite words, there may be an element of truth to it, or quite possibly, he really means it.

Sluggin’ Zambrano

The Cubs’ Carlos Zambrano won the Silver slugger award.

I wrote earlier this year comparing pitchers’ hitting and it wasn’t close.  The rbis tightened up but Big Z is the clear leader.

Cnt Player              BA   PA Year Age
+----+-----------------+-----+---+----+---+
    1 Carlos Zambrano    .337  85 2008  27 
    2 Micah Owings       .304  62 2008  25 
    3 Brandon Backe      .277  56 2008  30 
    4 Adam Wainwright    .267  65 2008  26 
    5 Jake Peavy         .265  58 2008  27 
    6 Mark Hendrickson   .257  37 2008  34 
    7 Braden Looper      .254  80 2008  33 
    8 C.C. Sabathia      .235  53 2008  27 
    9 Aaron Cook         .233  78 2008  29 
   10 Manny Parra        .226  58 2008  25

 

 Cnt Player            RBI Year Age
+----+-----------------+---+----+---+
    1 Carlos Zambrano    14 2008  27 
    2 Brandon Webb       11 2008  29 
    3 Jason Marquis      10 2008  29 
    4 C.C. Sabathia       7 2008  27 
    5 Manny Parra         6 2008  25 
    6 Danny Haren         6 2008  27 
    7 Jorge de la Rosa    6 2008  27 
    8 Bronson Arroyo      6 2008  31 
    9 Micah Owings        6 2008  25 
   10 Adam Wainwright     6 2008  26

 

Followup:  Some trivia… Only two teams had more than one pitcher hit a homerun for them in 2008.  The San Diego Padres’ Cha Seung Baek and Chris Young both hit one each.  For the Chicago Cubs, Zambrano contributed four dingers while teammate Jason Marquis hit out two.  Here’s the complete list for 2008:

Cnt Player            HR  PA Year Age
+----+-----------------+--+---+----+---+
    1 Carlos Zambrano    4  85 2008  27 
    2 Brandon Backe      2  56 2008  30 
    3 C.C. Sabathia      2  53 2008  27 
    4 Jason Marquis      2  66 2008  29 
    5 Matt Cain          2  72 2008  23 
    6 Micah Owings       1  62 2008  25 
    7 Bronson Arroyo     1  74 2008  31 
    8 Cha Seung Baek     1  38 2008  28 
    9 Chris Young        1  36 2008  29 
   10 Adam Wainwright    1  65 2008  26